Combination container and dispenser for strip packages

ABSTRACT

A COMBINATION CONTAINER AND DISPENSER FOR STRIP PACKAGES CONTAINING MEDICATION IN INDIVIDUAL AND SEPARABLE UNITS. THE COMBINATION CONTAINER AND DISPENSER HAS A PAIR OF SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SIDE WALLS INTEGRALLY CONNECTED TO A BASE WALL WITH A PLURALITY OF CHANNELS DISPOSED ON THE INNER SURFACES OF THE SIDE WALLS FOR CONTAINING THE STRIP PACKAGES.

P 20, 1971 c. HUSTON, JR 3,606,007

COMBINATION CONTAINER AND DISPENSER FOR STRIP PACKAGES Filed June 18, 1969 I V:- l 1g 1 25 20 I 0 2 INVENTOR.

LEWIS c. HUSTON, Jr. fi-amaaww ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,606,007 COMBINATION CONTAINER AND DISPENSER FOR STRIP PACKAGES Lewis C. Huston, Jr., Granville, Ohio, assignor to Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Ind. Filed June 18, 1969, Ser. No. 834,320 Int. Cl. B65d 1/36', 85/00, 85/56 US. Cl. 206-73 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years in a trend has been observed in the pharmaceutical industry with respect to the packaging of medication. In particular, it has been found that for certain uses, such as in hospitals, medication can be dispensed in a more efficient and accountable manner by packaging individual dosages. These individual dosage packages when designed for tablets, powder and capsule forms of medications are often made in the form of strip packages. The strip packages comprise a backing sealed to a transparent cover with the individual packages being connected to each other in a strip form but provided with a weakened section to permit them to be separated from each other. Although this type of package has been very well received in the medical profession, it has been recognized that a means for more easily containing and dispensing these unit dosages is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention comprises the use of a three-walled container in which a pair of substantially vertical walls are provided with channels for receiving the edges of the above-described type of strip package. The strip packages may be as long as desired, and in my preferred embodiment five individual dosages are formed in each strip. A container supports these strips in spaced and upright positions in the channels. Numerical indicia may be added to my container-dispenser to provide an easy means for determining the number of individual dosages in the container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side view of my container-dispenser with a corner broken away to clearly expose a unit dose of medication.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the container dispenser.

FIG. 3 is a view in section taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, a unitary container 11 which also serves as a dispenser is formed by a pair of side walls 13 integrally connected to a base wall 14. These walls may be formed of any rigid material and in the preferred embodiment I have shown them to be formed from transparent plastic material such as polystyrene. My container-dispenser can be injection molded in one integral piece. Thus, to permit easy withdrawal of the various molding tools, side walls 13, although substantially vertical, are slightly tapered in an upward diverging relationship.

Patented Sept. 20, 1971 Channels 16 are provided on the inner surface of each of the side walls. In the illustrated embodiment these channels are each formed by a pair of parallel ribs or flanges 18 and 19. Rib 18 is slightly longer than rib 19. Both ribs extend to base wall 14 and terminate with curved end portions 21 near the upper edge of the side walls. A pair of front flanges 23 and back flanges 24 which also serve the functions of ribs 18 complete the design of this container-dispenser.

The strip packages 26 in this embodiment have been designed to receive pharmaceutical capsules 27. Thus, each strip package 26 has a paper or foil backing 28 and spaced, transparent covers 29 formed of a light-weight and flexible plastic material. The plastic covers 29 are formed in the configuration of the individual capsules 27. These convensional strip packages are separable into individual dosages through the use of a tear line between each cover 29 which may be formed by perforations or cuts.

In using my container-dispenser a predetermined number of strip packages may be inserted into channels 16 beginning at the frontmost channel. The edges of backing material 28 are inserted with the taller rib 18 for each channel serving as the lead-in guide. The slight taper in side walls 13 may be dimensioned to snugly receive the backing material edges near base wall 14 and thereby prevent accidental loss of a strip package. It is to be noted that each of the five channels bears five numbers with the first one appearing adjacent the base wall 14 and front flange 23. The second channel bears the numbers 6 through 10 with the lowermost number 6 appearing adjacent base wall 14. These numbers have been spaced in accordance with the positioning of the capsules in the strip package whereby a number is aligned with a capsule. Thus, when the container-dispenser is filled, it will contain 25 individual dosages.

In using the container as a dispenser the first capsule to be removed will be that aligned with number 25 in the rear channel. After the first five capsules have been removed, the sixth capsule to be removed will be aligned with the number 20 on the second from the rear channel. Ribs 18 and 19 are spaced a sufficient degree to permit easy entry and exit of a strip package.

The particular embodiment of this invention has been shown in a transparent form. However, opaque materials may be used if a portion is semi-transparent to permit visual observation of the alignment of the medication with the indicia. In addition, channels 16 may be formed by providing thicker side walls 13 with grooves to receive the strip packages.

I claim:

1. A unitary container of transparent material for dispensing medication packaged in flexible strips having separable units defined by transverse tear lines comprising a base wall, a pair of elongated side walls integrally connected to said base wall, each of said side walls having a plurality of elongated parallel channels extending along substantially the height of said side wall and with the open elongated sides of said channels facing like channels on the opposite side wall, said channels being formed by pairs of closely spaced flanges with each alternate flange being uniformly shorter than its adjacent flanges, said channels on said pair of side walls further defining an exposed chamber therebetween accessible throughout the length and height of said side walls and being unobstructed at each end.

2. A unitary container for dispensing medication packaged in flexible strips as defined in claim 1 in which one of said side Walls bears numerical indicia for alignment with the separable units of the strip package.

3. A unitary container for dispensing medication pack- 4 aged in flexible strips as defined in claim 2 in which said 3,225,913 12/1965 Lee 2031S.R. indicia are sequentially numbered with the lowest num- 3,249,029 5/1966 Wareham 206-62 ber of each channel appearing adjacent said base wall. 3,302,777 2/1967 Sparks 2 678B 3,313,407 4/1967 Palm, Jr. 206-6-2 References Cited 5 3,381,808 5/1968 McGraw II 2Q642 UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM T. DIXSON, 111., Primary Examiner 2,226,340 12/1940 Flood 206-Dig. 2,348,414 5/1944 Pierce 211-41 2,774,472 12/1956 Badalich 206-73 10 206 62, Di 2 2 1 41 

